The present invention concerns an actuating drive for moving a moveable furniture part, including: at least one moveably mounted actuating member for moving the moveable furniture part, a spring device for subjecting the actuating member to a force, and an adjusting device by which a force of the spring device acting on the actuating member is adjustable. The adjusting device has an adjusting screw having a thread, and the force of the spring device acting on the actuating member is adjustable by a screw nut mounted displaceably along the thread.
The invention further concerns an article of furniture having a furniture carcass and a flap moveable relative to the furniture carcass, wherein the flap is mounted moveably by an actuating drive of the kind to be described.
An actuating drive in the form of a so-called flap support is described, for example, in DE 100 19 337 A1. That flap support includes two hingedly interconnected arm portions, wherein an arm portion, at the flap side, is acted upon by the force of a compression spring in the opening direction. For adjustment of the force exerted on the flap, there is provided an adjusting device including a threaded bolt and a threaded nut which is in threaded engagement with the threaded bolt.
Adjusting devices with an adjusting screw and a screw nut mounted thereon frequently encounter the problem that, upon rotation of the adjusting screw, the screw nut jams upon reaching an end position against the screw head (that is to say, the annular surface formed under the screw head). Once such jamming between the screw nut and the screw head occurs, that can only be released again by the application of a high level of manual force. If the screw nut serves as a support means for the spring device, then the force of the spring device also has to be overcome in order to release the jam formed in that way. If in contrast the screw nut is moved to the free end region of the adjusting screw, it would be possible for the threaded engagement between the screw nut and the adjusting screw to be lost. The functionality of the adjusting device would therefore no longer be guaranteed.
The object of the present invention therefore is to provide an actuating drive of the general kind set forth in the opening part of this specification, while avoiding the foregoing disadvantages.